I’m so sorry @FallGirl that you lost a beloved relative. That must be so difficult.
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Today I will:
Go to the gym
Fold laundry
Go to a tennis buddy of DH’s to visit. His wife has been very ill – she had non-Hodgkins Lymphoma diagnosed when they were traveling in South Africa and she wound up spending over a month in a hospital there. She’s home now, being followed up locally. DH had said we’d love to come see her when she’s up for it. And I guess now she is.
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The guy from my new landscaping company showed up right at 9 AM and cleaned up the dead leaves in my yard, trimmed the shrubs, etc. it looks great. He will be bringing the mulch over next week and spreading it.
I did a few administrative things and plan to go out for a walk this afternoon. There is a pop up restorative yoga class later this afternoon with one of my favorite yoga teachers and I’m planning to attend that. Hoping to hear from S and talk with him as I have a few things to talk about.
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I started the day making pancakes and enjoying the post -Passover spring table (husband brought the tulips home from Trader Joe’s a few days ago; the lemons are from our tree).
Appreciated the homeiversary text from our Realtor - we closed 11 years ago today. She also sends a little gift each year - candles, coasters, etc. We had bought it long distance and visited once during escrow - I knew as soon as we walked inside that it was the right house and still love it, outdated and shabby as it is.
We had our final courtesy visit from the rat whisperer that we used last winter - nothing has visited our attic in months so hopefully we’ve closed off the ingress.
I took a look through the cook books that were taking space in our pantry. I very seldom reference any of them since we have some big binders full of recipes that we actually use. And just go online if I want something different. Several of the books originally came from the annual library sales in our old town. Personally I would like to just toss most of them but my pack rat husband likely will just find somewhere else to store them.
It’s a good thing we have a two car garage that only is used for one car; it’s directly on the alley and the maneuvering to get two cars in is more trouble than it’s worth. I park on the street, so plenty of storage space in the garage. Which is good because pack rat husband has tons of boxes with not only his old papers and stuff, but also several boxes that he brought home to Illinois when they cleared his parents house. That subsequently got moved to California and never opened. Son and I have both dropped not very subtle hints that he should go through them to no avail.
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My husband still has the notes he took in his undergrad physics days, bc he might need them if he wants to become a professor some day. He also brought 15 boxes of stuff from his job when he retired (he still works 30% ish but is getting a pension).
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We had a lovely time yesterday afternoon at the house of one of DH’s tennis buddies. He and his wife were traveling in South Africa when the wife was diagnosed with some form of leukemia. She was in the hospital for a month in Capetown receiving treatment, until she was well enough to fly home. She’s still receiving treatment here and has good days and bad days. They invited us at the last minute because they are never sure how she’s going to feel.
Today I’m meeting my breakfast group. It’s a total of six women (although one only comes about once a year, if that) who are the moms of S2’s HS friends. We meet once a month. I have mixed feelings about the group, but I love the continuity.
Then I’ll buy some seeds and start growing more perennials for my deck.
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Up early to get ready for a garage sale! We haven’t done one in so long, but twice a year my neighborhood does them so we thought we’d set up some stuff to make a little dough and to further move us along with the Swedish death cleaning. Dh and I had a fight two days ago about it … I keep getting rid of stuff, and he keeps adding things.
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Maybe the tree guy will show up today for our 2pm appt. He already no-showed on Monday and Friday after I cleared my schedule to fit his.
My big goal today is to clean the pollen off my deck and porch. Perhaps SimpleGreen will do the trick (and get it ready for the next layer of pollen to come).
And, really, I should pack for my next two trips: 6 days with the grandson in the Midwest, followed by 3 days at home, before two weeks in Sicily.
Oh, and I need to gear up to read some texts and emails from a woman in Asia (I met her in Rome years ago). We used the same shipping vendor and he seems to be treating her unethically.
If I really get my act together, I may burn some sticks in the firepit to clean up that pile.
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Garage sale update: I sold my late SIL’s Royal Albert Old Country Roses china! I hated to give it away, although I sold it for a song so I practically did, but it went to a young couple so I am delighted. She had the three-tier dessert tray already and had fallen in love with the pattern so she was excited to get these plates and trays and bowls and assorted pieces. Wins all the way around.
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Doing some get the garden ready…pruning. It’s probably the thing I least like about my flowers!
Spending a little time helping at the artisans guild gallery this afternoon.
I’m voting for going out someplace to dinner…
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I booked this on a whim on Wednesday because H wanted to “go and stay somewhere fun.” I had no idea it was here! It’s only 1:45 technically from our house. Think it took me over 2 hours. The gps went a way we’ve never been. Surely it didn’t know I drive like a grandma on teensy rural roads turning every 2 miles! I was lucky to get a road with a yellow line here and there. We will go back a different way! At least half of it will be on a highway that way!
But it’s a GORGEOUS day in rural Virginia. It was absolutely lovely driving. We will head into Roanoke for dinner (30 more minutes) and go home tomorrow.
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That looks really fun!
Solo walk with the girls this morning. Long FaceTime with D this morning, then several hours working on a long stretch of badly neglected landscape. Vines and volunteers! I wisely made dinner reservations. It’s a beautiful day here, other than the pollen. Lots of controlled burns as well.
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I tracked the USS John P. Murtha via ship tracker, Hotel Del web cam, and Shelter Island web cam. When it was close to Cabrillo, we ran down to Shelter Island (five minutes away) to watch it bring home the Artemis capsule. There were a lot of people around, some who knew about the ship and others who didn’t. It was a picture perfect arrival with the tugboats doing ceremonial water jets as it slowly made its way past Cabrillo and around Naval Air Station North Island. I brought along my camera with the zoom. And of course the phone camera. And no, we couldn’t see the capsule inside.
So now I will be spending time downloading and editing photos!
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That’s exciting!!
Today DH and I finally put the outdoor couch together. Photos to come.
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It’s only a little over 2 hours from your town. I’d call it more relaxing than fun. There are 4 miles of hiking trails on the property. It also serves as a camp? Or something for underprivileged kids. It’s deserted today. But there are other buildings and basketball courts, a pool, etc. I think we are also right along the Blue ridge parkway. We may drive a little on that maybe. I think H is napping now. What “fun” we are lol
Relaxing >pulling vines and volunteers!
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We finished up all of the outside work yesterday as the rain will be with us for the next week. H burned off weeds, I raked up sticks, twigs, and leaves, all to get ready for new gravel this month.
I originally planned to head home today, but SIL and some of his friends will be coming over on a couple of weeks, so I have to do more than a lick and a promise cleaning-wise.
What I really want to do is sit with my feet up and read a book.
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I have been exercising and cleaning today. I just made a pot of lentil soup & now I’m watching a very eventful Masters.
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Did a run to the grocery store for a few things. Made picadillo in the crockpot. A Mahjong club opened near me so I met a friend there at the open house to check it out. We ended up playing 2 games with some women we met. On the way home I stopped by Athleta and bought a small travel makeup bag on sale ( my old one fell apart recently after about 15 years of use).
Called a friend, finished a library book. It’s cold and rainy outside.
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Combining yesterday and today.
Exercise and pup walks always, rinse and repeat every day of my life. 
Yesterday I took my son out for lunch - he’s a principal and on Spring Break and I feel like while we see each other often (he lives less than 2 miles away), it’s rare we get time for just us. And it is not untrue that if my H is along he often dominates a conversation. 
Anyway, he picked the place, we picked up coffees afterwards and had a nice time.
Stopped at an estate sale down the street - more on that later. Made homemade pizza for dinner and I watched this season’s finale of Shrinking.
Today I started the day mixing up and all the steps of making a sourdough croissant bread - it will get baked tomorrow. I had seen a couple of things at the estate sale yesterday that I liked but the prices were more than I wanted to pay and I wasn’t desperate to have them. Well H decided to go back to that sale right at 9am when they opened and today is 50% off day. He was able to pick up all the things I wanted! A beautiful like new medium blue Cuisanart Dutch oven (less tall, more wide like a roaster) for $18, a Madewell sweater new w/tags for $6 and an Anthropologie fit and flare midi dress that I’ve always loved for $20! Looks like it’s never been worn. Pretty orange and teal floral/paisley print. Well, most of it fits me well, but the top is a little loose - and showy so TBD if I keep it or just resell it.
I worked outside most of the afternoon moving and splitting some peonies that are popping through the ground, clearing my autumn clematis and weeding and cleaning out a flower bed. I’m nearing 11 miles on my watch for the day so plenty of activity (some of it is shovel action!). Making H pork chops for dinner and I’m going to have leftover chicken and gyro salad from our Mediterranean lunch yesterday.
Oh and H and I hung 2 window shades in one of our spare bedrooms that I bought and have been waiting since June 2025. I said “we could have conceived and had a baby in the amount of time it took for us to get that job done!!”
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